Fashion

Fresh feet

It's official: these adidas football boots are rubbish. But in a really good way

WORDS Paul McNamara
Issue 15

Football has moved on. Once you could rely on a ball being made out of a sheep’s bladder and boots constructed from heavy leather that doubled in size when it rained. Now balls are made out of polyurethane. And boots? Thanks to the latest collaboration between adidas and environmental organisation Parley for the Oceans, you can slip on a pair partially made out of recycled plastic. 

The adidas Football x Parley Boot Pack features sustainable versions of the brand’s three blue-chip models: the Predator Accuracy, the Speedportal and the Copa Pure. They are made in part from recycled ocean plastic, retrieved from remote islands, beaches, coastal communities and shorelines. “Where some see a beach covered with plastic waste, we see opportunities to invent and create and collaborate,” says Cyrill Gutsch, founder and CEO of Parley, the 11-year-old non-profit collaboration network that is trying to eradicate plastic pollution from our oceans. 

Football has moved on. Once you could rely on a ball being made out of a sheep’s bladder and boots constructed from heavy leather that doubled in size when it rained. Now balls are made out of polyurethane. And boots? Thanks to the latest collaboration between adidas and environmental organisation Parley for the Oceans, you can slip on a pair partially made out of recycled plastic. 

The adidas Football x Parley Boot Pack features sustainable versions of the brand’s three blue-chip models: the Predator Accuracy, the Speedportal and the Copa Pure. They are made in part from recycled ocean plastic, retrieved from remote islands, beaches, coastal communities and shorelines. “Where some see a beach covered with plastic waste, we see opportunities to invent and create and collaborate,” says Cyrill Gutsch, founder and CEO of Parley, the 11-year-old non-profit collaboration network that is trying to eradicate plastic pollution from our oceans. 

Read the full story
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A hi-tech process begins with comprehensive cleaning of the waste, which is shredded then melted to allow for the extraction of the yarn that becomes the building block of the boot. Of course, the aim of aiding athletic performance was at the forefront of the adidas x Parley design process too. 

The likes of Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham and Barcelona’s Pedri are already wearing the environmentally friendly footwear, which nods to its ocean origins with a white-and-turquoise colourway. “This is bigger than sport: it is a new way of thinking,” says Gutsch. “And we are not finished yet.”

Football has moved on. Once you could rely on a ball being made out of a sheep’s bladder and boots constructed from heavy leather that doubled in size when it rained. Now balls are made out of polyurethane. And boots? Thanks to the latest collaboration between adidas and environmental organisation Parley for the Oceans, you can slip on a pair partially made out of recycled plastic. 

The adidas Football x Parley Boot Pack features sustainable versions of the brand’s three blue-chip models: the Predator Accuracy, the Speedportal and the Copa Pure. They are made in part from recycled ocean plastic, retrieved from remote islands, beaches, coastal communities and shorelines. “Where some see a beach covered with plastic waste, we see opportunities to invent and create and collaborate,” says Cyrill Gutsch, founder and CEO of Parley, the 11-year-old non-profit collaboration network that is trying to eradicate plastic pollution from our oceans. 

Fashion

Fresh feet

It's official: these adidas football boots are rubbish. But in a really good way

WORDS Paul McNamara

Text Link

Football has moved on. Once you could rely on a ball being made out of a sheep’s bladder and boots constructed from heavy leather that doubled in size when it rained. Now balls are made out of polyurethane. And boots? Thanks to the latest collaboration between adidas and environmental organisation Parley for the Oceans, you can slip on a pair partially made out of recycled plastic. 

The adidas Football x Parley Boot Pack features sustainable versions of the brand’s three blue-chip models: the Predator Accuracy, the Speedportal and the Copa Pure. They are made in part from recycled ocean plastic, retrieved from remote islands, beaches, coastal communities and shorelines. “Where some see a beach covered with plastic waste, we see opportunities to invent and create and collaborate,” says Cyrill Gutsch, founder and CEO of Parley, the 11-year-old non-profit collaboration network that is trying to eradicate plastic pollution from our oceans. 

Football has moved on. Once you could rely on a ball being made out of a sheep’s bladder and boots constructed from heavy leather that doubled in size when it rained. Now balls are made out of polyurethane. And boots? Thanks to the latest collaboration between adidas and environmental organisation Parley for the Oceans, you can slip on a pair partially made out of recycled plastic. 

The adidas Football x Parley Boot Pack features sustainable versions of the brand’s three blue-chip models: the Predator Accuracy, the Speedportal and the Copa Pure. They are made in part from recycled ocean plastic, retrieved from remote islands, beaches, coastal communities and shorelines. “Where some see a beach covered with plastic waste, we see opportunities to invent and create and collaborate,” says Cyrill Gutsch, founder and CEO of Parley, the 11-year-old non-profit collaboration network that is trying to eradicate plastic pollution from our oceans. 

Read the full story
Sign up now to get access to this and every premium feature on Champions Journal. You will also get access to member-only competitions and offers. And you get all of that completely free!

A hi-tech process begins with comprehensive cleaning of the waste, which is shredded then melted to allow for the extraction of the yarn that becomes the building block of the boot. Of course, the aim of aiding athletic performance was at the forefront of the adidas x Parley design process too. 

The likes of Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham and Barcelona’s Pedri are already wearing the environmentally friendly footwear, which nods to its ocean origins with a white-and-turquoise colourway. “This is bigger than sport: it is a new way of thinking,” says Gutsch. “And we are not finished yet.”

Football has moved on. Once you could rely on a ball being made out of a sheep’s bladder and boots constructed from heavy leather that doubled in size when it rained. Now balls are made out of polyurethane. And boots? Thanks to the latest collaboration between adidas and environmental organisation Parley for the Oceans, you can slip on a pair partially made out of recycled plastic. 

The adidas Football x Parley Boot Pack features sustainable versions of the brand’s three blue-chip models: the Predator Accuracy, the Speedportal and the Copa Pure. They are made in part from recycled ocean plastic, retrieved from remote islands, beaches, coastal communities and shorelines. “Where some see a beach covered with plastic waste, we see opportunities to invent and create and collaborate,” says Cyrill Gutsch, founder and CEO of Parley, the 11-year-old non-profit collaboration network that is trying to eradicate plastic pollution from our oceans. 

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